International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 4, Issue 4, April 2015
PLC Based System Using Microcontroller for Industrial
Application Based on Android Technology.
Mrs. Nita Patil1, Ajay.K.Selvaraj2, Sudindra Karkera3, Prince Abraham4, Nikhil Hosur5
1
Assistant Professor (SIES GST), 2,3,4,5Final ECE
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
SIES Graduate School of Technology, Navi Mumbai, India

Abstract—A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is a
special computer which is used to automate industrial drives,
machines and control the way they operate as per the
programming. A modern PLC constitutes a microprocessor,
sensors, actuators connected to input-output ports. However the
space and power requirement of PLC is higher compared to a
small microcontroller system functioning as PLC. Also in
today’s world, low cost wireless control of devices remotely has
gained importance. This paper presents a concept of using an
89S52 microcontroller which acts as a small PLC for controlling
industrial devices wirelessly through Bluetooth using Android
application as an interface between the system and the user.
Index Terms—PLC, single microcontroller chip, Blue Control
Android Application, Bluetooth Module.
I. INTRODUCTION
The advent of PLC was a major breakthrough in control
system engineering. Be it any hardware industry, PLCs
eliminated the use of control devices such as relays, cam
timers, drums sequencers. Hence the industrial processes
became faster and more reliable. But PLCs are suitable mostly
for large scale industrial applications where space is not a
major concern and the manufacturing processes are more
complex. Our project aims to design a microcontroller system
which works similar to a PLC for small and medium scale
industrial applications. Also, this project can also be used for
home automation application to switch the devices wirelessly.
The Android platform has been used since Android has been
in huge demand in the market and also because it is open
source. Android is a software stack for mobile devices that
includes an operating system, middleware and key
applications and is used extensively for touchscreen mobile
applications such as smartphones and tablets[1]. The Android
applications are developed in Java and are run on virtual
machine called ‘Dalvik’ created by Google. The Android
SDK provides a set of tools for developing applications on the
Android platform. The purpose of Android in our system is to
send control signals from a smartphone to the system via
Bluetooth.
ISSN: 2278 – 909X All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJARECE
The Android platform has been used since Android has been
in huge demand in the market and also because it is open
source. Android is a software stack for mobile devices that
includes an operating system, middleware and key
applications and is used extensively for touchscreen mobile
applications such as smartphones and tablets[1]. The Android
applications are developed in Java and are run on virtual
machine called ‘Dalvik’ created by Google. The Android
SDK provides a set of tools for developing applications on the
Android platform. The purpose of Android in our system is to
send control signals from a smartphone to the system via
The project comprises of a set of loads which are interfaced
to an AT89S52 microcontroller [2].Each of the loads can be
operated in three different modes which are Auto Mode, Set
Mode and Manual Mode according to the user’s requirement.
Any of the modes can be activated wirelessly with the help of
an Android application installed in a smartphone.
II. LITERATURE SURVEY
The proposed system of industrial automation can be thought
of an extension of home automation concept and mainly
emphasizes on the real time operation of different loads for
different production processes. This is because every process
is carried out by a machine which acts as a load being
controlled. In addition to it, the system should be such that it
reduces labor, saves energy, and improves accuracy,
precision of the process thereby improving its quality.
In 1988 Waheed, M.A. ; Sethuraman, S.K. ; Deans, N.D.
proposed the concept of using a single-chip microcontroller to
control the devices in real time[3]. This idea is the backbone
our project work. Also the wireless control of devices using
Bluetooth was first proposed in 2001 by Lilakiatsakun,
W. ; Seneviratne, A. wherein their work was limited to
wireless home networking solutions[4]. Further in 2008,
Wijetunge, S.P. Wijetunge, U.S. ; Peiris,
G.R.V. ; Aluthgedara, C.S. ; Samarasinghe, A.T.L.K.[5]
proposed a concept of sensing and controlling through
Bluetooth which could control up to five devices situated at
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International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 4, Issue 4, April 2015

remote locations. An Application Programming Interface

(API) was introduced as a software component to provide a
development platform (for e.g. SDK) for a specific Bluetooth
enabled application. Then Android platform came into picture
when Annan Zhu ; Peijie Lin ; Shuying Cheng introduced
their work on control of home devices using ARM
microcontroller and GSM network[6]. But since we were
developing a low cost, prototype model, we chose AT89S52
microcontroller instead of ARM. The ARM microcontroller
could also be used in case when the complexity and memory
requirements of the system increase. Our work combines the
above mentioned proposals to develop a project which not
only switches ON/OFF devices but does this with some extra
features. This is because industrial applications need such a
type of design. We have added two extra modes of operation
to facilitate the common or separate allocation of time for
each process. Also since it is just a prototype, we have used
open loop control instead of closed loop. The closed loop
system can be used for any one or all of the set of loads hence
a separate monitoring system could be implemented for each
load.

III. METHODOLOGY

A. Programming of Modes
The most important aspect of our project is the programming
of microcontroller for operation of loads in different modes.
The modes are programmed so depending on user’s
requirement. In our prototype project model, we have selected
three modes which are as follows:
1) Auto mode: In this mode, all the loads are
programmed to operate for a fixed time interval (say 15
seconds).When the command is issued to the microcontroller;
it turns ON Load 1 for 15 seconds, then Load 2 for 15 seconds
and so on.
2) Set mode: In Set mode, the user has the liberty to set
different timings for each different load .For eg.Load 1 is to
operate for 15 seconds, Load 2 for 10 seconds, Load 3 for 25
seconds and so on. Therefore the user can decide how much
time he has to give for each process in an industry.
3) Manual mode: In this mode, the loads are controlled
manually. Hence user can switch ON/OFF a load whenever he
desires to do so.
B. Block Diagram
The Fig.1 depicts the block diagram of PLC based
microcontroller system. The proposed system makes use of
four bulbs as a set of loads. The loads are controlled
wirelessly using Bluetooth through a smartphone having
Android Operating system. A Bluetooth module is placed
between the mobile phone and the microcontroller so that it
receives command from the phone and issues it to the
microcontroller. When a load is to be driven, a command is
sent via mobile phone to the Bluetooth Module. The
Bluetooth Module decodes the command and sends the
required signal to the microcontroller AT89S52.The
microcontroller will consider it as an interrupt on one of its
pins. Therefore it will scan the program and accordingly send
output command to the relay driver and the corresponding
relay contact is closed to switch the load ON.
Figure 1.PLC Based Microcontroller System
Once the load is ON, it will remain so until the timeout occurs
in Auto mode or Set mode. In Manual mode, a load continues
to remain in particular state (ON/OFF) as long as it is not
switched to another state by the user.
C. Implementation of the Proposed System
In this section, the details of the project circuitry and its
working have been provided. There are various components
which we have used to implement this system. The figures
below are the snapshots of our project. Each section of the
project has been separately explained.
Fig. 2 shows Bluetooth Module HC-05[7] which has
been configured in slave mode. It establishes communication
between the mobile phone and the microcontroller. It receives
and decodes the commands sent by the phone and serially
transmits the data to the microcontroller at a baud rate of 9600
bps. It uses two pins which are UART Txd pin (Pin 1) and
UART Rxd pin (Pin 2) which are connected to Pin 11(Txd)
and Pin 10(Rxd) of microcontroller respectively. This module
operates in ISM band at a frequency of 2.4GHz.
Fig. 3 shows the LCD interfaced to the
microcontroller [8]. The LCD is used for displaying the
modes of operation to the user. The LCD used is a 16x2 LCD
having green backlight Using LCD, we can also view the
amount of time to be given to each of the loads before turning
the system ON. The countdown for each load is also displayed
on LCD which enables us to see the ON time remaining for a
particular load.

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ISSN: 2278 – 909X All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJARECE
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 4, Issue 4, April 2015
Fig .2 HC-05 Bluetooth Module.
Fig .3 LCD indication of different modes.
Fig .4 Controller kit with power supply.
ISSN: 2278 – 909X All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJARECE
Fig .5 Relay driver IC and loads.
Fig. 4 shows the circuit of microcontroller along with
power supply. We have chosen AT89S52 microcontroller for
our system with a crystal frequency of 11.0592MHz.The
microcontroller is programmed to control the operation of the
loads according to the commands received from the
smartphone via Bluetooth module. It also indicates the mode
of operation and the remaining ON time of a specific load on
LCD. Port 2 is interfaced with the LCD module. Port 3 is
interfaced with the Bluetooth module and Port 0 is interfaced
with relay driver and load circuit.
Fig. 5 shows the relay driver and load circuitry. The
circuit consists of a relay driver IC ULN2003 [9], four SPDT
electromagnetic relays for each of the four bulbs acing as
loads. Also LEDs have been provided to indicate the status of
each load (ON/OFF).
IV. SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION
A. ‘C’ Programming
In this project, we have used Keil C Compiler for
developing microcontroller program in C language. Fig. 6
below shows the flowchart of our project in brief. When the
system is turned ON, the microcontroller enables its serial
port and displays the keys to be pressed for different modes of
operation on the LCD and waits for the command from mobile
phone before executing any action.
When Key-‘A’ is pressed, the AUTO mode of
operation is selected wherein, all the loads are remain in
operation for a fixed time instant one by one. After a load has
finished its due time interval, the next load gets switched ON
and so on. When Key-‘B’ is pressed, Set mode of operation is
selected. In this case, each of the loads can be programmed for
different time intervals and sequential switching takes place.
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International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 4, Issue 4, April 2015

V. CONCLUSION
The proposed system reduces the space and power
consumption and ensures efficient use of the available
resources. Also numbers of operators required for monitoring
the system are less. Only one operator is required to issue the
commands and monitor the proper working of the system. We
can use any of the different modes available which best suits
the industrial process application. Also since it is not possible
in some cases to control or manually override/reset any
machine owing to high temperature, we can control the system
wirelessly over a suitable distance from the system.

VI. REFERENCES
[1] Paul, K.; Kundu, T.K., ‘Android on Mobile Devices:
An Energy Perspective, IEEE 10th International
Conference on Computer and Information
Technology (CIT), PP-2421-2426, 2010’.

[2] www.keil.com/dd/docs/datashts/atmel/at89s52_ds.,p
p4-5.This reference is the datasheet of AT89S51
microcontroller. This datasheet helped us in
interfacing the peripheral devices with the
microcontroller using the pin configuration and their
functions.

[3] Waheed, M.A. ; Sethuraman, S.K. ; Deans, N.D.

Fig. 6 Basic Flowchart for this system
When Key ‘C’ is pressed, manual mode of operation is
selected where the user can manually switch ON and OFF one
or more than one of the loads. They will continue to remain
ON until the user switches them OFF.
B. Android Application interface
We have used Blue Control Android application which is
available freely on Google Playstore. It is an interface
between the user and the system. In industrial applications,
this will act as control panel for the user. It contains different
keys for issuing the commands to the system. The up and
down arrows are for incrementing and decrementing the time
count respectively.
‘An intelligent single-chip microcontroller-based
power controller for real time applications,
CONTROL 88.,International Conference on
Control, PP-489-493, 1988’.
[4] Lilakiatsakun, W.;Seneviratne, A. ‘Wireless home
networks based on a hierarchical Bluetooth
scatternet architecture, Ninth IEEE International
Conference on Networks, PP-481-485, 2001’.
[5] Wijetunge, S.P. ; Wijetunge, U.S. ; Peiris, G.R.V. ;
Aluthgedara, C.S. ; Samarasinghe, A.T.L.K..
‘Design and Implementation of a Bluetooth based
General Purpose Controlling Module, 4th
International Conference on Information and
Automation for Sustainability, PP-206-211,
ICIAFS, 2008’.
[6] Annan Zhu; Peijie Lin ; Shuying Cheng , ‘Design and
Realization of Home Appliances Control System
Based on the Android Smartphone, International
Conference on Control Engineering and
Communication Technology (ICCECT), PP-56-59,
2012’.

[7] http://www.tec.reutlingen-university.de/uploads/medi
a/DatenblattHC-05_BT-Modul.pdf.This is the
datasheet of Bluetooth module HC-05.

[8] Mazidi and Mazidi, ‘Microcontrollers’, Prentice Hall

Publications,Pg284-290,300-310,428-430,441-450.

Fig. 7 Blue Control Application acting as Controlling [9] www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/uln2003a.pdf.This is the

Panel datasheet of ULN2003.

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ISSN: 2278 – 909X All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJARECE
International Journal of Advanced Research in Electronics and Communication Engineering (IJARECE)
Volume 4, Issue 4, April 2015

AUTHORS’ PROFILE:

[1] Prof. Nita Patil is an assistant professor at SIES Graduate School of Technology. She received her M.E degree
from Mumbai University and B.E degree in Electronics Engineering from Amravati University. Her area of
interests include Image processing, Microprocessors and Microcontrollers.

[2] Ajay. K. Selvaraj is an undergraduate student at SIES Graduate School of Technology, Nerul, Navi Mumbai.

[3] Sudindra Karkera is an undergraduate student at SIES Graduate School of Technology, Nerul, Navi Mumbai.

[4] Prince Abraham is an undergraduate student at SIES Graduate School of Technology, Nerul, Navi Mumbai.

[5] Nikhil Hosur is an undergraduate student at SIES Graduate School of Technology, Nerul, Navi Mumbai.

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ISSN: 2278 – 909X All Rights Reserved © 2015 IJARECE